This story hits home to me and many other Alaskans. Many times over the years boaters, hunters, loggers, miners, hikers and campers have had bad things happen. Seaplanes and Helicopters are the only means of emergency rescue, support and the continued rebuild or salvage.

The Pacific Northwest had the eruption of Mt. St. Helens August, 1982 and the landslide of Oso, Wa. March, 2014. Reminding everyone that very large disasters are inevitable. Every community should be prepared for the worst, it's not if, it's when.

The Versatility Of Seaplanes In Disaster Relief – A Spotlight On EVAC/ ACA

Disaster relief by seaplanes and GA aircraft have been a topic for decades. For several years now, volunteer pilots in the Pacific Northwest have been organizing to be of service when the expected great earthquake occurs. Such an event would likely yield Tsunami’s and cause widespread destruction to some of the United States most beautiful landscape. In addition to the risk posed by tectonic movements, the area is also home to several active volcanoes which, if triggered to erupt, would cause massive need for disaster relief efforts.

Sky Terry – NW Regional Emergency Services Director with EVAC- Emergency Volunteer Air Corps is one of the people who contacted us, after our article about Civil Air Patrol’s Seaplane in Alaska went viral, thanks to Bryan Emerson’s great Guest Editorial. A good opportunity to stick with this topic and dig deeper, while putting a spotlight on some great initiatives undertaken by the aviation community in the PNW.

The first ever joint disaster exercise between the California based SCAPA/DART groups and WA State took place on April 25, 2015. In the end, the exercises involved multiple airports, simulating a disaster response that transported food as well as the simulated transport of injured people.

What was truly unique though was that there was transport food as part of this exercise that was donated at the final airport to a homeless food program.

“To the best of my knowledge this is a historical first for a disaster drill to be combined with a food drive that did deliver food to a homeless program. So it brought a realism that hasn’t been done before. In Washington our local Lake Way Fred Meyers in Bellingham sponsored the first 100 lbs and through donations our state contributed about 380 lbs of food that went to California.” ~ Sky Terry

Met a guy several years ago who had this huge scheme to get insurance companies to fund a private, non-profit, disaster relief corporation that would use RORO and other ships, including hospital ships to serve as an emergency/disaster first-response teams and part of his concept was using new turbine Gooses as pathfinder/scouts and refurbished Grumman Albatrosses to deliver first-on-the-scene teams of people and critical supplies.

Still waiting for it to happen because he was willing to fund new production of the aircraft in question if necessary, if nobody else beat him to it, but so far the race is not even close....